Originally Posted by
TonyWilliams
I don't believe bankruptcy is the only way to sidestep a union contract in the (non-government) arena. A quick search will find "alter-ego" airlines, initially filled with plenty of non-union pilots working under rules that would violate the contracts from their "ego" affiliates.
As to the government union side, check out the $5 million party the FAA managers are having in ATL. That's after 3 years of a unilaterally imposed contract. No strike, no bankruptcy. Without the current government political leadership, it would still be the same.
Those imposed work rules were only one year after (in 2005) sending home the federally employed flight service station folks, some with days to go before retirement, so they could sell the jobs to non-union "alter ego" employees at Lockheed Martin. Those guys may never get their jobs back.
I'm not saying don't fight the good fight. But don't fall prey to union organizer or supporter rhetoric that implies that you're 100% safe in the union. Remember this:
ANYTHING OF VALUE IN YOUR UNION CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO SOMEBODY WANTING TO TAKE IT, BY WHAT EVER METHOD, LEGAL, QUASI-LEGAL, OR ILLEGAL.
As soon as a union is voted in, you go into status quo. So the company is not allowed to change any of its current policies or practices (written or unwritten). They are required to negotiate a contract with the covered employees. ALPA has learned (the hard way) about solid scope, M&A, and fragmentation clauses so this would be priority number one in any new ALPA contract thus eliminating the threat of alter egos.
I tried to explain this status quo concept to dozens of Skywest pilots back during the drive because it seemed to be a major concern for them that once votes are counted and the company realizes their pilots are unionized that their management would start unilaterally making life worse for them. Beside the fact that this would be illegal and that ALPA would file a lawsuit to impose an injunction on Skywest if they attempted that (just like they got an injunction on Skywest to stop its tactics during the organizing drive), if you feel your management would try to do things like this then doesn't speak to the fact that maybe you do need a union with the power of laws behind it to defend you against such actions? I personally, from speaking with a dozen friends who worked there, didn't think that they would do that. I tried to explain to them that just because you are unionized doesn't mean that you have to have an adversarial relationship with your management. I pointed to my pilot group as the best example of that. Hell, my MEC looked after the best interest of Skywest pilots as well when JA tried to buy XJT.